On each of these weekends, the servers will be shut down at 7:30 UTC, and will be started again after works are completed, which will be Sunday 16:30 UTC at the latest, but may be earlier. We do not yet have a precise date for the August maintenance.

The following services will be unavailable during these periods: * XAPI / jXAPI * dev.openstreetmap.org server (errol) * rendering of new map tiles * osmfoundation.org and stateofthemap.org web sites

As a temporary replacement for XAPI/jXAPI, consider using third-party services such as that provided by MapQuest: http://developer.mapquest.com/web/products/open/xapi

Maps will still be viewable on the openstreetmap.org homepage and on other people’s websites. We’ll be serving tiles from a back-up tile server. However rendering engines will be deactivated, meaning that new rendering of map updates will not take place during the maintenance period, some requests for tiles will fail where no cached copy is available, and tile response times may be slower than normal.

Some secondary OpenStreetMap services will be unavailable during the following dates, due to power maintenance work at our server hosting:

2nd and 3rd July 2011. (Saturday & Sunday)

30th and 31st July 2011. (Saturday & Sunday)

3rd and 4th September 2011. (Saturday & Sunday)

and 1 weekday (to be confirmed) during August 2011.

On each of these weekends, the servers will be shut down at 7:30 UTC, and will be started again after works are completed, which will be Sunday 16:30 UTC at the latest, but may be earlier. We do not yet have a precise date for the August maintenance.

Maps will still be viewable on the openstreetmap.org homepage and on other people’s websites. We’ll be serving tiles from a back-up tile server. However rendering engines will be deactivated, meaning that new rendering of map updates will not take place during the maintenance period, some requests for tiles will fail where no cached copy is available, and tile response times may be slower than normal.

A pair of short tutorial videos has been recorded to demonstrate the absolute basics of OSM editing with Potlatch 2. Part 1: Add points of interest. This covers getting into Potlatch 2, screen familiarization and adding a POI. Part 2: Trace roads and areas. This covers tracing roads, paths and areas from Bing aerial imagery.

Past Sunday in the well-known German “Tatort” TV show, you were able to see an OSM map of Leipzig in the background. You can watch this snippet on YouTube.

The DC Sidewalks project by Serge Wroclawski is an effort to put pedestrian routing data into the OSM project. You can read more about it here.

An article by Derick Rethans explains the import and usage of OSM data in the search platform “Solr”.

Libraries are repositories of information, places of learning and of research. One of the ancient libraries, the Library of Alexandria is credited with comparing different versions of books with empirical standards which became the beginnings of the scientific method. Libraries are filled with adventures of discovery wrapped in layers of shush. Book stores are another source for book-learning, though the brick and mortar versions are dwindling in some places.

Rowr! Dinosaur week on OpenStreetMap could be even bigger than Shark Week on Discovery TV!

As education month continues we turn our sights from schools to museums. These places of wonder and learning range from traditional displays behind glass with descriptive plaques at a museum of natural history to interactive exhibits of levers and pulleys at a science museum. Add your favourite local museums to the map. And don’t forget the dinosaurs!

OpenStreetMap contributor, Ed Hillsman, was the senior research associate on a multi-modal trip planner study. In it the authors implement a multi-modal trip planner using transit feeds, OpenStreetMap data and a variety of Open Source tools. Join me in reading this weighty tome. My quick first glance suggests that it will be well worth reading the full report.

OpenStreetMap now allows accounts to be authenticated with OpenID as an additional, optional authentication method for some OSM functions. You may ignore this if you are not interested in OpenID. Some users find OpenID an interesting way to reduce the number of passwords they have to use in their travels on the internet.

If you have an existing OpenID or wish to create an OPenID for use with OpenStreetMap, have a look at the OSM OpenID page on the wiki for important caveats.

Both Kai and Tom were key in writing and implementing these improvements. Be sure to thank them if you like OPenID. Perhaps buy them a beverage when you see them.

Just announced on legal-talk[1]is that Phase 4[2]of the license change process is scheduled for this Sunday, 19 June 2011. During Phase 4, the 166,000+ contributors who have accepted CT/ODbL will be able to edit. That is, the 406 contributors who have declined CT/ODbL will not be able to edit after phase 4 has begun.

Those who have declined with their existing account may reconsider or may open a new account to continue editing. Those who have already accepted should be unaffected by the move to Phase 4.

If you have an unexpected problem with editing, please see #osm-dev on IRC[3].

Just announced on legal-talk[1] is that Phase 4[2] of the license change process is scheduled for this Sunday, 19 June 2011. During Phase 4, the 166,000+ contributors who have accepted CT/ODbL will be able to edit. That is, the 406 contributors who have declined CT/ODbL will not be able to edit after phase 4 has begun.

Those who have declined with their existing account may reconsider or may open a new account to continue editing. Those who have already accepted should be unaffected by the move to Phase 4.

If you have an unexpected problem with editing, please see #osm-dev on IRC[3].